Creative Writing quickly filled in with students after a minute or so. Last period, a friend had asked me what we were doing in the class, to which I had no answer. So, I was excited to hear about our newest project. What I learned was not the most exciting news. Ms. Zerbe introduced our first summative project to be a personal narrative.

I started to think about what event or interaction I could tell. As we’re still in the first month, everything’s on the table. While first going through my life and not finding many interesting events to write about, I thought, “My life must be pretty boring if I can’t come up with anything”. So, I wrote that down to poke fun at myself.

Sometimes, I came up with an idea, but then I wouldn’t use it for one reason or another. Some stories I wouldn’t write because I felt like I had told them too many times. “Better to not become a broken record, even if it’s a new audience”, I’d think to myself.

Other stories seemed interesting in concept, but then when given more detail, became dull. Like the time I broke my arm. When someone hears that, they of course become curious. ‘What happened?’ ‘How did she break her arm?’. While someone could easily come up with a thrilling story of how I broke my arm, I would sadly disappoint. I broke my arm because I walked backward at a playground and tripped over a root. It definitely hurt, but it’s not much of a story.
Of course, other stories were too personal, and I really started to blank on any ideas at all. My eyes darted around the classroom. Posters, people, books, trying to give me an idea of what to write about. I would read quotes from the walls in my head and try to grasp an idea of what to write about through synonyms of a word, or the lesson behind it. “There’s a rose on that poster, do I have a story relating to flowers? ‘If you expect respect, be the first to show it,’ Does that connect to anything?” It almost felt like I was interrogating myself.

Eventually, I was out of ideas. I slumped over and thought through the same 5 or 6 ideas over and over again. “Everyone else seems to have something to write about by now”. Eventually, I looked at my paper. All I had written was “My life must be pretty boring if I can’t come up with anything”. Which made me think, “well, my life isn’t that boring, I just don’t think that what I have to share fits this assignment”.

Cogs started to turn in my head. I wanted to write something interesting, something that would stand out. Even though I’m a creative person, I’m normally a stickler to the rules. This is a creative writing course though. I’m sure I could get away with bending the rules a little if I did a good job. Besides, it’s the first summative assignment and is supposed to be telling of the person. I’d want to make a good and lasting impression.